Earth’s orbit around the Sun is not circular, but an ellipse that is slightly elongated with an eccentricity of 0.017. (An eccentricity of 0 is a circle, while the dwarf planet Pluto has a ...

Zero equates to a perfectly circular orbit. In our solar system, Earth has an eccentricity of 0.02, while Pluto’s highly oval-shape orbit around the sun is considered 0.25. The newly discovered ...

A 128-minute orbit, according to Kepler's third law, works out to a semi-major axis of 8,413 km (5,228 mi). Such an object with less than 0.25 eccentricity (a roughly circular orbit), therefore ...

Some orbits are ever so slightly elliptical (like a somewhat squashed circle, or, in astronomical terms, an orbit with low eccentricity), whilst some appear rather flattened (highly eccentric orbits).

According to their work, orbital eccentricity (how much a planet's orbit deviates from a circle) can influence a planet's climate response, which could have a profound effect on its potential ...

By the scientists' estimates, the planet's stretched-out orbit has the highest eccentricity of any planet detected to date. The new planet's orbit is also unique in its "retrograde" orientation.